Encoded Archival Description Tag Library, Version
2002

EAD Elements

<occupation> Occupation

Description:

A term identifying a type of work, profession, trade, business, or avocation
significantly reflected in the materials being described.

All occupations in a finding aid do not have to be tagged. One option is to
tag those occupations for which access other than basic, undifferentiated keyword
retrieval is desired. Use of controlled vocabulary forms is recommended to
facilitate access to occupations within and across finding aid systems. The <occupation> element
may be used in text elements such as <p>. To indicate an occupation with
major representation in the described materials, nest <occupation> within
the <controlaccess> element.

Use the SOURCE attribute to specify the vocabulary from which the term has
been taken. The NORMAL attribute can be used to provide the authority form
of a term that has been encoded with <occupation> in narrative text,
e.g., within a paragraph. The AUTHFILENUMBER attribute can be used to identify
a link to an authority file record that has more information about the occupation.

Do not confuse with <function>, which designates the spheres of activities
and processes that generated the described materials, e.g., collecting taxes
or entertaining.

Do not confuse with the ROLE attribute available on the various name elements,
e.g., <corpname>, <persname>, <famname>, etc., which may
be used to specify the relationship of a name to the described materials, e.g., "compiler," "creator," "collector," or "subject."